Sparks in the Ash
The forest was quieter now. Not peaceful — just emptied.
Birdsong had gone missing. Even the wind didn't dare press too hard against the blackened trees that surrounded the ruined tower.
Kael adjusted the weight of the gauntlet on his arm. It didn't feel heavy, but it meant something heavy. A piece of his old world, reborn with him. Or perhaps… a reminder.
Elira walked a step behind, watching his back like always.
"You're not the same," she said quietly. "Since the gauntlet."
Kael stopped. He looked down at the bronze sheen on his forearm, flexed his fingers, and watched a faint ripple of flame hum between the joints. It didn't burn — not unless he wanted it to.
"I remember more now," he murmured. "More than I want to."
Elira stepped beside him, arms folded. "You mean from your past life?"
Kael gave a slow nod.
"There were others. Vessels. People like me, chosen to carry something… ancient. Flame was just one part. Others held wind, stone, light, void. Together, we stood between the realms."
"And now?" she asked.
Kael met her eyes.
"Now they're dead. Or worse — turned."
---
They camped that night in the shadow of the ruins, far from the gate. Kael didn't sleep. He sat near the edge of a cliff, watching the stars blink one by one into view.
It was strange — how familiar they looked.
Not the pattern of the stars, but the feeling they gave him. Distant. Watching. Quietly cruel.
"You still don't sleep," Elira said, dropping beside him with a blanket over her shoulders. "That's three nights now."
"I don't need to," Kael said, voice even.
"Sure. But maybe you should."
He glanced at her. "Scared I'll lose my mind?"
"I'm scared you already have," she replied with a smirk. Then added, "But no. I just think… whatever's coming, you're going to need all of you. Not just the parts that are awake."
---
The next day, they reached the edge of the burned valley.
It hadn't always been like this. Once, this stretch of land had been green — Kael remembered that, somehow. A battlefield where flame and shadow met, long before his rebirth. Now, nothing grew. The trees were skeletal. The air was bitter. Ash still curled between rocks.
Kael crouched and placed a hand to the soil. It was dry, dead. But warm. Too warm.
"Elira," he said sharply. "There's movement here."
She drew her dagger without hesitation, scanning the ridgeline. "What kind?"
Kael stood slowly, eyes narrowing. "Divine magic. But fractured. Tainted."
Before she could answer, the earth behind them cracked open.
---
From the split rose a figure — tall, cloaked in robes that bled smoke. Its face was hidden behind a black, cracked mask shaped like a crying angel.
Kael stepped forward instinctively, placing himself between it and Elira.
"I've been waiting," the thing said, its voice like wind through embers.
"Who are you?" Kael asked.
It tilted its head. "You've forgotten me already. How tragic."
"I've forgotten nothing," Kael growled. "But I only remember those who deserved it."
The creature laughed — a hollow sound that echoed wrong. "Still sharp. Good. You'll need it. Because what comes next… makes your past life look like a dream."
---
Kael raised the gauntlet, flame pulsing.
"Did you take my family?" he asked.
"No," the creature replied, almost offended. "But I know who did. And why."
"Speak."
"You're not ready," it said, backing into shadow. "But follow the trail of the others. The Vessels. Not all are gone. One burns in chains beneath the city of glass. Another hides in the corpse of a world that forgot time."
Kael's eyes narrowed. "You're guiding me."
"I'm warning you," the creature replied. "The gods don't just want you dead. They want you unmade. If you don't gather the rest... they will."
With that, it vanished, leaving behind a scorched sigil on the ground — a seven-pointed star wrapped in broken flame.
---
They didn't speak for a while after that.
Kael kept moving, faster now, the gauntlet occasionally pulsing as if sensing something distant. The sigil burned in his thoughts — he had seen it before, in books older than the current cycle of time. It was the mark of the Ashbound, once allies… now pawns of corrupted gods.
"Elira," Kael said after a long stretch. "We need to find the next Vessel. The one beneath the city of glass."
She looked uncertain. "That's on another realm, isn't it?"
"Yes."
"Then how do we—"
Before she could finish, Kael stopped walking. His eyes flicked upward.
Overhead, the sky was shifting — not clouds, not stars.
A tear.
A thin crack like lightning stretched across the heavens, glowing with violet light. Something was breaking through.
Kael clenched his jaw.
"They found me."
---
He turned to Elira. "We can't stay in this realm. Not anymore."
"You mean... leave this world?"
Kael nodded.
"There's a rift forming. I can use it. But it won't stay stable for long. If we miss it, we're stuck."
Elira didn't hesitate. "Then let's go."
Kael's lips tightened. "It'll hurt."
"I don't care."
He stared at her for a second. She wasn't just a companion anymore. She was family. The only one left.
"Alright," he said. "Stay close. Don't break the tether. If we're separated mid-jump, we may land centuries apart."
"That supposed to comfort me?" she asked with a grin.
Kael almost smiled.
Then he raised the gauntlet, and fire swirled to life. The rift overhead responded — pulsing, warping, inviting.
Kael looked at the sky and whispered the words in the old tongue:
> "Burn the veil. Break the wheel."
And they vanished.